Politics at this moment in time

Andrew Sullivan praises President Obama's political acumen while expressing worry about the effects of his agenda, all the while conceding that this is Obama's moment and his ideas might well be right for the times. I recommend reading it, as it's not too long but it is thoughtful. I think that this sort of feeling ought to be the mainstream sentiment among conservatives--it's at once patriotic, ideological but pragmatic, and constructive. The conservative movement could do worse than to emulate Sullivan's sentiments, and it seems they are:

There is plenty of confidence [at CPAC] that the new president is going to push Americans back into their arms.

“This is probably too strong,” said Doug Haney, the city attorney in Carmel, Ind. and a Republican precinct committeeman, “but Hitler also gave great speeches.”

I recommend following Dave Weigel's reporting from CPAC, the most intriguing of which can be found here. It's packed with good stuff. Okay, I understand, they don't want to admit failure. Fine. But don't these people have a moment's doubt about their views after 2008? Sure, they'll get another shot eventually, but aren't they worried that the same problems will recur again? I guess unyielding faith in political dogma is what you get when you base your party on an unwielding faith to religious dogma.

Still, it seems to me that the recent parade of hits from the GOP folks--decrying spending on mice, volcanoes, tattoes--seems more to be geared toward getting chuckles at places like CPAC (Instead of removing tattoos, President Obama should remove his party's lips from the money faucet! Har har!) rather than mounting a serious critique of Obamanomics. And this is what happens when the party is whittled down to its base--you don't have anyone who represents anyone other than ultraright conservatives, and therefore you don't have anyone who can pitch anything to anyone other than ultraright conservatives, except for the moderates who are the most hated in the party. I suspect that this entire generation of conservative leaders is lost to the idiocy, which is a bad thing for us liberals since good opposition makes policies better. I'd much rather have right-left arguments and left-further left arguments than just the latter. Unfortunately, since the only people serious about governing are on the left that's just how it goes.

None of this is terribly original, just what's been on my mind lately. Reading dispatches from CPAC really does make me feel like these folks have lost their minds.

Update: If you read the article, you will read about some Huck idiocy. I still tend to believe that he's the GOP's only hope of real reform, but in light of his recent statements I'm beginning to believe that there therefore is no hope.